The Eastern and Midwestern United States may be in the throes of winter, but the much anticipated 2002 rugby season in southern California kicks off this weekend.

The Division I League Championship is shaping up to be a hotly contested competition with some new head coaches being appointed and new player personnel being added to various rosters.

Of course there are the perennial powerhouse clubs OMBAC (San Diego) and Belmont Shore (Los Angeles) which are very likely to set the pace again, but this time they could be given a good run for their money by the in-form Back Bay Sharks of Newport Beach.

OMBAC may have lost the services of young prop forward Dan Dorsey, who recently stitched up a contract with English club Bath, but the Super League Championship runners-up have great depth and have a habit of churning out top class teams.

Belmont Shore on the other hand has been going through a rebuilding process for the last couple of seasons and will be looking to consolidate its efforts in 2002. Coming off a disappointing 2-5 Super League season last year, Belmont has named New Zealander Matt Webber as its new player coach.

Webber has experience in both the Super 12 with the Auckland Blues and the NPC with Northland. Belmont has also added some new players to its roster including former Australian Capital Territory utility back Craig Wells.

Back Bay is looking forward to a successful year and is coming off a useful Major League Rugby campaign during the fall. The Sharks won the MLR Plate final last November.

They've signed up a new head coach in Australian Matt Grimison. Grimison played for Sydney University and last year he coached the Regina Highlanders in the Canadian Super League.

Added to that, Back Bay has picked up exciting Collegiate All-American Brian Surgener from Cal Berkeley who won his first cap for the Eagles against South Africa last month. They also boast the speedy David Fee who was recently added to the USA 7s squad and was the leading try-scorer in Chile.

Their Orange County neighbours, the Huntington Beach Unicorns, suffered a major player drain in 2000 and 2001 and could struggle again this year. In an effort to right the ship they've appointed New Zealander Richard Wheelans as their head coach. The Unicorns were crowned Southern California Champions in 1999, but have fallen from grace since then.

Another club waiting in the wings is Riverside from the Inland Empire, just east of Los Angeles. Riverside is renowned for fielding competitive teams, although it often finds the going tough when it comes to attracting players and 2002 is no exception.

The remaining Division I club is Santa Monica. The west LA team is always in the hunt, but never quite manages to scale the mountaintop. They're hoping that 2002 will be a breakout year.